NEW YORK - JPMorgan Chase is focusing on mobile as part of its multichannel strategy that includes two iPhone apps and mobile banking via SMS, which it promotes in its TV commercials.

While Chase is but one of many banking giants investing heavily in the mobile channel, the financial institution turned to mobile early and has continued to roll out mobile initiatives. JPMorgan Chase was one client that Lee Mikles, cofounder/CEO of the Archer Group, Wilmington, DE, discussed during his presentation at the Direct Marketing Association's DM Days conference in New York.

"JPMorgan Chase built an iPhone app and they wanted us to bring it to Facebook, and we asked ourselves, ?How are Chase consumers using the iPhone app versus Facebook versus the dot-com site?' because what they do on the Web may be different than what they do on the iPhone," Mr. Mikles said.

"You can't just port it from one channel to another," he said. "Because of the tiny screen, people expect less information on their phone -- customers don't want everything the Web site has.

"Chase uses each new platform as a way to expand its relationship with its customers and encourage them to explore the brand outside of the core dot-com site."

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is one of the oldest financial services firms in the world, with assets of $2.3 trillion and the largest market capitalization and deposit base of any U.S. banking institution.

Formed in 2000 when Chase Manhattan Corp. acquired J.P. Morgan & Co., the firm serves millions of consumers in the United States and various corporate, institutional and governmental clients.

The Chase brand is used for credit card services in the United States and Canada, the bank's retail banking activities in the U.S. and commercial banking. Washington Mutual is currently being integrated into the Chase brand.

JPMorgan Chase is one of the "big four" banks of the U.S. along with Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. It is also among the least exposed in the ongoing financial crisis.

Enter the iPhone
In addition to its Chase Mobile platform, which enables mobile banking via SMS and an iPhone application, the financial institution launched the Gift Planner app for the iPhone and iPod touch.

The app is designed to help consumers organize their shopping habits, keep to their budget and keep track of their personalized gift list.

Users of the app can add their iPhone contacts and track everything from who is on their gift list, to how much they want to spend and where.

Consumers can create gift-buying budgets by default categories or create their own.

The application lets users snap a photo of each idea they come across for their gift gallery.

Each time they check someone off their list, users can also view a budget snapshot.

They can also create their own wish-list and send it on to their friends and family.

"This is great way for Chase to expand its relationship with consumers and connect with them by helping them with saving, building budgets and making good financial decisions," Mr. Mikles said. "They wanted to explore doing something more than transactions with us, and consumers can use the Chase Gift Planner iPhone app while they're out and about shopping.

"Chase wanted to be associated with consumers' purchasing habit to keep brand top-of-mind and to keep their Chase card top-of-wallet," he said. "The iPhone app looks vastly different from the dot-com site, because its purpose is vastly different."

This is but one of many mobile initiatives that Chase has run.

Chase let consumers in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York try and win a pair of free tickets to the U.S. Open tennis tournament via a mobile campaign (see story).

The bank has included SMS calls-to-action on out-of-home posters and billboards (see story).

Also, Chase has tested mobile coupons (see story), though no commercial rollout has been announced.

In addition to its English-language TV commercials promoting Chase Mobile, Chase ran a TV advertising campaign aimed at raising awareness within the U.S. Hispanic community about many banking features, including Chase Mobile (see story).

However, the mobile platform that Chase and other brands have focused on most is, unsurprisingly, Apple's iPhone.

"While some brands are interested in BlackBerry apps, the iPhone has the glitz to it, and Android is still pretty new as far as user adoption," Mr. Mikles said. "If a client has an iPhone they want to do it on an iPhone, and we can do a lot with iPhone 3.0's expanded tool sets.

"Everyone's going crazy over it, because we can do a lot of stuff out of the box," he said. "For example, we don't have to build a GPS system to try to triangulate cell phone towers. The iPhone has been such a game-changer. When Palm released its latest phone, the knock was it didn't have many applications on it.

"Whereas it used to be about the device, now it's about the apps, and while Apple only makes about 5 percent of apps, they've totally changed that game and consumers' expectations."